ESSENCE Poll: How Do You Tell Children Bad News About a Relative?

Phaedra Parks isn’t sure how to tell her son about his father’s incarceration. How would you give bad news to your kids?

Sunday night’s episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta got awkward for Phaedra Parks as she unexpectedly came face to face with her estranged husband, Apollo Nida in a night club.

"Are you surprised to see me or something?" asked Nida. "I wish he would be this concerned with his children," said Parks.

But the awkwardness didn’t stop there. During a visit to Kandi's house, Parks wondered how she would approach having a most uncomfortable conversation with her son. “How do you tell a 4-year-old that his father is going to prison?” Parks asked Kandi's cousin, whose father was behind bars. “Due to our son’s ages, they don’t understand what’s going on, and I don’t want to damage them… I don’t want my sons to repeat the same cycle.”

We’re wondering the same thing: How do you tell children bad news about a loved one? Take our poll and let us know in the comments what your policy is.